Change the name with the random names in a text file

[Ulrich Eckhardt]

Amaninder Singh wrote:
> I am fairly new to the language and programing. I am trying to solve a
> problem in a text file. Where names are something like in this  manner
> [**Name2 (NI) 98**]
> 
> [**Last Name (STitle) 97**]
>  [**First Name4 (NamePattern1) 93**]
> [**Last Name (NamePattern1) 94**]
> ([**Name (NI) 95**])
>  [**Last Name (un) 96**]
> I am trying to change these with random names.

First thing is to read the text file. It looks to me that these are records 
that consist of multiple lines. Depending on the exact layout you could read 
and store them in a plain list or maybe a dictionary. As part of this sub-
task, output each record, too, so you can manually verify that its fields 
are correct.

with open(filename) as f:
    lines = list(f)
    print lines

This should get you started, it will read the file into a list for further 
handling. You might need "codecs.open" instead if you have special 
requirements concerning the encoding.


Then, in a second step, you just go through your list of records and modify 
them however you want. If there are restrictions to the overall form of a 
record or its contents, be sure to validate the record both after reading 
and after modification.


In a third step, you just write the records to an output file, but by then 
this will be an easy task for you. Of course, reading back the output and 
validating it is a good idea. Actually, you can also skip the second step 
for now and just write back the data you previously read without 
modification.


If you have any problems with these, be more specific with what you want, 
what you have already and where your problems are. In particular, don't ask 
for code, as that looks as if you were trying to get someone else to do your 
homework for you without making an effort yourself.


Good luck!

Uli

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